Voices in your head: Books and Statues

First off, let me say, that The British Library isn’t a tourist-friendly place. You can’t just walk in, look at all of the beautiful books and then leave. To really get the most of the library you need to be prepared to spend pretty much the whole day there. I didn’t know that at the time.

That said it doesn’t stop it from being a beautiful place to spend an afternoon. It is next door to Kings Cross/St.Pancreas intl. Station which makes it easy to get to. There are exhibitions for those of you who like paying to bore yourselves to death, and ping pong tables (complete with paddles and balls) in the courtyard outside for the rest of us.

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There is also the statue of Newton in the courtyard, hunched over and looking more like a tribute to Darwin than anything else. Thanks to a company named Singing Statues he and several other statues in and around London, has been given a voice. If you have the Layar app (or any QR code reader) on your phone you can call him and hear about his marvellous life. It’s a 4 minute long monologue but it’s pretty interesting.

If you do have the time to register You will need two forms of ID (Passport, Drivers licence, Debit/Credit Card will do) to get your British Library ID. If you aren’t actually there to do real research asnd you don’t have any idea what to start with, pack your stuff away in the cloakrooms downstairs and go straight for the maps and rare books. You log in to the online catalogue, fill out the names and the shelfmarks of the books you want on a little form which is then given to the gremlins in the archives downstairs. It takes around an hour for the gremlins to dig up your books/ resources and deliver them to the reading rooms. But there is nothing quite like the smell of a stupidly old map. I mean really…it’s horrible.

TL;DR

You can’t just walk in and read the books, there are hoops to jump through first.

There are ping pong tables outside and a statue that talks.

Kitty says 2/5 Rawrs

Quiet Spaces in Busy Places: St. Christophers Place

City tigers have an innate understanding of human traffic. We understand the way it ebbs and flows, we can predict when to slip through narrow gaps to overtake passers by and we have a shared (inexplicable) hatred for those who cause us to slow down or worse, stop.

However if you’re from a quieter side of life the speed of the crowds can be overwhelming and nowhere more so than on Oxford Street. But tucked away amidst the madness under a silver ballerina is St. Christopher’s Place, a little safe haven where you can escape the crowds and take a breather.

I love it in the evening when the little alley between Marble Arch and Oxford Street Station is lit up in lilac. The second you slip down the alley the roar of the high street is muted and the piazza is a great place to rest and people watch. There are also some great restaurants and shops around the square so you can grab a bite and have a look in the boutiques before rejoining the stampede.

So the next time you’re on Oxford Street keep an eye out for the silver ballerina.

Once Upon a Time

It was a rainy day, and my arm was tired from holding up the umbrella. I needed some place that was indoors and interesting enough that I could kill time. The attractions were clearly signposted, the shopping center, the river, the old castle and the story museum. Guess where I ended up.Upon arrival I was given a map and a brochure on which to collect stamps. There were 26, one for each letter of the alphabet and for each character in the museum. The idea is you wander around and as you find them you tick them off and collect the stamp. (Ie. ‘T’ was Neil Gaiman, who was dressed up as Badger in a Wind in the Willows themed room) I asked the guy who handed me the map what his favourite part of the museum was. He said he couldn’t tell me but that it was upstairs and I’d know it when I saw it.

With that and my challenge in hand I set off to collect my stamps. The best part about this museum is that you’re encouraged to interact with everything.There is a chalkboard where the wild things are for you to draw your own wild thing, and for the peter pan exhibit you must clap if you believe in fairies. The best part was the changing room. Inside there was a wall of costumes of everything you could ever possibly imagine (in all sorts of shapes and sizes). The idea was you became a character, chose your name from the list of adjectives, nouns and nonsense provided and then sat on the “magical” throne which shouts your new name loud enough for everyone to hear. One small girl transformed herself proudly into “the curious potato of somewhere.” 

The story museum is a collection of classics, which makes it great for all ages. It was actually quite fun to observe the children rushing around collecting stamps whilst their parents were remembering the stories and being thrown back to another lifetime.

I did find the surprise part in the end, but I’m not going to tell you what it is. You’ll just have to go and see for yourself.

TL;DR

Pay for entry £7.50 for adults, a little less for kids.

A great alternative (or addition) to following the crowds around the colleges of oxford.

Kitty says 4/5 Rawrs (We wish it was bigger!)